The Elvish Outpost
by Idril Ar-Feiniel
Summary: Haldir and friends stumble upon an old abandoned outpost along the boarders of Lorien. Stories and rumours tell that it is haunted and horrible things happen there. Will they survive? One-shot story


**The Elvish Outpost **

"There is a tale that I have not told you brothers." Haldir and his two younger siblings sat by a fire in his home. Rumil and Orophin were children at this time and it was Halloween by our reckoning.

"What tale? Is it scary?" Orophin asked snuggling into the chair he was sitting in.

"The tale of the Elvish Outpost; and it may be scary to you because it is true." Haldir smiled and patted him on the head.

"Really?" Rumil the youngest asked wide eyed.

"How do you know Haldir?" Orophin was sceptical.

"Because it happened to me when I was beginning my career as a Galadhrim Archer, this was before you were born. When Adar and I worked with each other, and when Naneth was expecting Orophin." Haldir handed them both sugar candy and blankets and waited patiently as they settled down in their blankets.

"Cool!" Orophin sat down closer to the fire, staring into the dancing flames.

"It was a normal day the day it all happened. I was on duty with some friends: Gilven, Thurinven, and Handor. We were all excited that day..."

"Ooooo is that Uncle Thurinven?" Rumil pulled his thumb out of his mouth thinking of his elder brother's best friend that they had come to call Uncle.

"Yes, but do you want me to finish this story or not?" Haldir looked at him; Rumil nodded and promptly shoved his thumb in his mouth.

"We were all excited that day it was our first mission without an older more experienced Elf. Now the Elvish Outpost we had come across had been abandon long before our first mission, we had heard about some soldiers who did not come back after exploring it, but we assumed it was a story made to scare new soldiers. Gilven, the most adventurous of the four of us, suggested we set up inside the outpost where it will be warmer.

'You are kidding right Gilven?" Handor snorted.

'No I am not kidding Handor! It's just a story after all.' Gilven opened the door. There was an evil feeling to it, but still we went inside.

'Hello?' Thurinven came in last. He poked around a little bit.

'Seems homely enough what do the rest of you say?' Gilven walked around the small kitchen like room.

'Fine we will stay here for the night, but I do not like the feeling of it...' I was about to finished my sentence when we all heard screaming, a high pitch scream.

'Um...what was that?" Handor gripped his bow till his knuckles cracked.

'Ghosts maybe?' Gulped Thurinven he too gripped at his weapons, even pulling out in arrow.

'There are no such things as ghosts Thurinven!' I reprimanded him.

'Then _what was that scream!_'

'The wind...telling of something horrible that happened here.' Answered Gilven, he had been given a gift of hearing what the wind told you when it blew.

'What did the wind say then Gilven?' I asked him, trusting his ability.

'The wind said something about men, men like us, they came here and were tortured and mutilated beyond recognition. The wind said to run...run fast...run hard...don't look back.' Gilven shuddered.

'Right then so all we have to do is leave!' Thurinven ran to the door, but it was locked.

'Joy of _joys!_" Handor finally spoke.

'Well...what are we going to do Gilven?' I gripped his shoulders, angry that he persuaded us to stay.

'Ah...I don't know.'

'You don't know..._you don't know!' _Handor yelled.

Thurinven yelled and ran back to where we are he had run off during our discussion.

'B-b-b-bodies i-i-i-in there...they're dead...all d-d-d-dead.' He was white, shaking, and visibly disturbed.

'Gilven come with me! Handor stay with him!' I took charge of the deteriorating situation. It was a gruesome sight. One body was missing two hands, a foot, and three toes from the other foot, also the stomach was ripped open and the insides were gone. The second body was worse...blood was still gushing out where the heart and head had once been, ragged skin hung open revealing innards that had not yet rotten or spilled out. This was done...recently. There was a third body no arms, no legs, and no tongue, and again was ripped open as well. This time; however, we noticed blade marks. There was one thing that remained the same with them all. The ones with heads had their eyes frozen open in fear and pain. All were missing some kind of internal organ.

'Haldir who would be so sick enough to do this?' Gilven asked shaking and falling to his knees.

'I...I don't know Gilven." We both recognized the first body. It was a Flet Marshall Laereth she had gone missing about a day ago with some of her Archers.

'Laereth! No!' Gilven and Laereth had been planning to be married in a few weeks; no one could have guessed she would have died like this.

'I am so sorry Gilven...so sorry." I hugged him...he sobbed. His heart was broken into shards.

'_Curse this place! Curse whoever did this! I will find them and I will do what they did to her!' _

'Come Gilven, we should get back to the others.' I led him back.

'What in Eru's name is wrong with him?' Handor gaped at the sobbing Archer.

'You know Laereth?'

'Ya...she went missing about a day ago why?'

'You know that she and Gilven were going to be married?'

'Yes...what are you driving at?'

'Well she was one of those people that were brutally massacred.' I finished my answer letting it sink in.

'No...not when I was there...' Thurinven shuddered.

'What do you mean?'Gilven stopped crying and looked up at him.

'There were no female faces...just male...' Here I interrupted.

'Were they all cut up?'

'N-n-n-no...they were just lying there...eyes wide open and frozen...but all male...about five of them in a row.' His voice squeaked as he force it out.

'I'm going to go look again...stay here." I left them to go back to that room, sure enough there were only male bodies...not cut open. _How? What about Laereth? _Scratching my head I turned and looked again. This time the elves we had seen were all there. I walked around them looking for clues, but finding none. Nothing to answer my question or are we just crazy?

'Haldir!' Someone whispered my name.

'Who's there?' I gulped thinking back on the bodies.

'It's me.' Out of the shadows of the stairs Laereth came out.

'You're dead.' I said bluntly.

'No...they are...' She sighed.

'But your body is over there?' Confused I looked back and sure enough it was still there.

'Haldir that is not mine...it was one of my men's...after they were killed I realized that if I made myself 'dead' It would not come after me.' She grew paler at the word It.

'But what about the other bodies...you know the ones that are not all torn open like these ones?'

'Oh those, they were with me on duty...when I heard you and the others I did not know who or what you were. I put my invention to use. When I pull this lever it changes the bodies quietly. I meant to scare you off so you would not harm me or get killed by It...but you had to come and look.' She smiled mischievously.

'Why did you not find a way out?'

'Well I tried...but It locks the doors and windows...It keeps you in. I tried Haldir...I really did...but It never sleeps. Oh and I have been here a week.'

'How are you still alive? And I thought you went missing a day ago when we were supposed to return from duty?'

'I just told you! It thinks I'm dead. Simple I got as far as here the first day...like you...one of my men got curious...like one of yours...and have been trapped here ever since...how did you get in the door was locked!' She quickly gave me a question to answer.

'It was open!' I crossed my arms.

'That's odd...I tried earlier today to open it...but it would not open...maybe It wanted to trap more people."

'Bring them here...as soon as you can...be careful you cannot come back this way. Never use the same way twice here...otherwise It will be waiting for you!' She turned and opened a door in the side of the stairs and disappeared. I found my way back using a different path through. Thankfully she had previously made multiple paths in this outpost which was rather large. I kept pondering what she called It.

'Guys you must come with me now!' I whispered loudly to them.

'No I don't want to go I want to die!' Gilven sobbed again.

'Gilven she's alive I will explain later...but you have to come with me quietly this It thing will kill us if it can.' So we walked quietly through a new part of the outpost. It took a while to explain what she had told me but in the end they all understood.

'Laereth we're here!' I knocked softly on the door. Out of the corner of my eye I saw something flicker almost like a light then it vanished. Before she opened the door I saw another flicker and a face filled with evil and malice. Smiling evilly.

'Hurry up Laereth something is out here!' My voice trembled as much as my body. Finally she opened the door and dragged us all inside.

'What did you see?' She spoke normally once inside.

'I saw a flicker of light and a face smiling evilly.' I croaked.

'You may have seen It...or at least a trick of It. I have never really seen it in full...I just know it is here.'

'Laereth!' Gilven grabbed her and hugged her tightly relieved to see she was fine.

'I missed you Gilven...missed you so much!' She smiled, her eyes filled with tears of joy.

A horrible wailing noise could be heard followed by shrieking, groaning, and a bone crunching noise. It was loud, it was horrible, and it was not a figment of anyone's imagination and we all heard it.

'What was that!' Thurinven nearly keeled over and fainted.

'That was something It has just killed...possibly a prisoner that was trapped upstairs. I used to hear him call for help. I never go upstairs...that is where It does its worst evils. Two of my men went up there...the same noises were made...and they were tossed down the stairs...well their remains at least.' She closed her eyes and would not speak to us for a few minutes.

'Handor we need a way out. Gilven you take care of the Flet marshal. Thurinven you need to help Handor. And I need to find out how to get food and water to survive.'

'We have all the supplies here Haldir, after three of us were killed then the rest of us made sure we had enough supplies for a whole battalion to last a month.'

'How did you do that Laereth?' Gilven asked her, while holding her hand.

'We risked our lives to wander this place...that is how we found this hidden room. It was stuffed with supplies.' She lit a candle and we could see a huge cellar full of army supplies and cots were piled into neat heaps.

'Woah.' Was all Gilven said as they gawked at the supplies found there. Haldir picked up a bow and realized that it was especially made for a high ranking officer from Galadriel. There was a note on it that said:

_To whom it may concern,_

_This bow I made with my own hands for the officer who finds it. May you use it well!_

_Galadriel_

'None of us...except maybe Laereth can use this...according to the note.' Haldir put it down, still admiring the intricate carvings.

'No I don't want it...it's beautiful but why would you want to use it in battle? It would get soiled.' She turned back to the door. Placing her ear against it, Laereth listened carefully.

'Do you hear anything?' Gilven placed a hand on her shoulder.

'No...it's quiet. I think It is trying to lure us outside.' She looked at him and spoke again, 'I don't think we are ever getting out.'

'Don't say that! Laereth what about us? What about our life together? Have you given up hope already?' Gilven held her.

'Well...look at what happened to the others during this week...what makes you think we will survive this?'

'Because if Eru wants us to die we will if not we won't.'

'Alright you're probably right.' We all sat there in silence pondering what our lives had amounted to in the time we had all been alive.

'Handor?' I broke the silence.

'What is it Haldir, you came up with a plan?'

'No...I was wondering if you noticed anything strange about all this.' I motioned to the room, 'No outpost is ever filled with this much supplies...I mean why would you need to it's just an outpost after all.'

'Well maybe because it is so close to the boarder they figured that if they were under attack this would be a good place stock up on food and ammo?' Handor's idea seemed good enough.

'Whatever the reason we are stuck and trapped.' Laereth stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

'And in need of a way out.' Gilven shoved the wall with his hands.

'Um Gilven what are you trying to accomplish doing that?' Thurinven asked; his face wore a smirk.

'Nothing...I was just getting some anger out.' Gilven continued knocking his hands on the wall.

"Well you might as well stick a sign out there saying 'free people to kill'." Gilven stopped knocking on the walls and Thurinven just sighed lightly to himself.


End file.
